Chuck vs LA Traffic
by ciam4527
Summary: One-shot. Chuck and Sarah get stuck in traffic on their way to Ellie's Christmas Eve party. How will Chuck cope with having to be stuck with Sarah right after 2.11? Happens right after 2.11 vs. the Santa Claus. Pure CHARAH, with an ode to Morgan/Anna


_AN: I do not own Chuck, I am just a loyal fan :D_

_Just my version of what I thought might happen after 2.11 vs. Santa Claus. Please read and let me know what you think. Enjoy!_

_The ------ correspond to a changing of point of view._

Chuck vs. LA Traffic

Chuck paced through the aisles of the Buy More mulling over his thoughts. Today was the day before Christmas. Christmas was traditionally thought to be a special time for family and friends to gather together and celebrate, setting aside woes and sadness to be happy with the ones you love. At least that was what Christmas was supposed to be for a normal person. Unfortunately for Chuck, his life was far from normal at this point.

The day was one of the more eventful and stressful days he had had in a while. Considering the fact he had been the intersect for the last year and a half, that was saying a lot. Initially, the day appeared as if it would be promising: Ellie and Awesome were planning a Christmas party for that night, which he capitalized on to invite Sarah to further his efforts of winning her over. A night of "heart warming and fun" he had called it... It should have been anyways.

Chuck's hopes for a peaceful, normal holiday were crushed when Ned and Lt. Mauser, two fulcrum agents, took over the Buy More and discovered that Chuck was the intersect. In the ensuing snafu, Chuck was captured by Lt. Mauser but was rescued by Sarah, who told him to run back to Castle. Of course, he didn't listen to her, he never did, especially not when his gut told him Sarah was in trouble. Usually his instincts paid off, though Casey and Sarah would never admit it. However, tonight was different. He wish he hadn't gone back, as tonight he saw something he was not ready to accept. Sarah shot an unarmed and surrendering man. Sarah, whom he had come to trust and love, had killed a man in cold blood.

As he continued to pace through the aisles of the Buy More, he became even more freaked out about the shooting as he continued to go over the scene in his head. But why was he so bothered by this? It wasn't the first time that Casey or Sarah had killed someone during one of their missions. Hell, a guy was shot off a balcony on Chuck's first assignment. It wasn't like Mauser was good person; he worked for Fulcrum so he was obviously out to get the intersect. The scary part was that he almost succeeded. If it hadn't been for Sarah… Damn it, why did he go back? If he had just listened to her… Chuck tried to rationalize the situation. Sarah always had a reason for what she did. He always thought she was a good person. There's no way she would have killed Mauser without a good reason. But why did she have to lie to him about it? He was hurt that after all the progress he had made with her, she could still look at him with a straight face and lie about murder. Then again, she was a CIA operative, she was trained to be evasive and deceptive, what the hell did he expect? Chuck wasn't satisfied with this reasoning though. Chuck was not a child and he was tired of being treated as such: he deserved honesty, especially from Sarah. After a year and half of being shot at, hanging over buildings, poisonings and ninjas, he was definitely not the geeky and inept Chuck Bartowski he was before the intersect. As he thought about confronting Sarah with his questions, he told himself he was not in the mood or in the right state of mind to do so tonight, though the reality was that he really didnt want to confront her, as it would mean acknowledging what happened.

After having paced for a good ten minutes and having decided that he would push back a Sarah confrontation, he just wanted to slip out of the Buy More, away form all the cops and flashing lights, and just go home. As he made his way outside, he got a phone call from Ellie. After speaking with a few cops about the hostage situation, she and Devon had been released.

"Hey Chuck! Have you left the Buy More yet?" asked Ellie rather enthusiastically considering the day she had just had.

"Hey Elle, I just left. You sound pretty excited, what's going on?"

"Well despite what happened today, it's still Christmas eve. We're all alive and unharmed- well except Casey, but at least he just lost a toe… But that's not the point. We need to celebrate! Devon and I went to the store and bought some food and I'm going to make dinner for us."

"I don't know Elle, I'm pretty beat and I-" said Chuck as he tried to maneuver his way out of having to interact with anyone tonight. However, Ellie cut him off.

"Nonsense! Christmas only comes once a year and we rarely ever get to spend time with each other anymore. I already called Sarah and the Buy More crew. We are having this party and we are going to have a good time. Okay? I'll see you soon."

Before Chuck could protest, Ellie had hung up. _Fuck._ Not only was he not in the mood to talk to anyone, Sarah would be there and they would have to act all happy around the others, something chuck was sure he was capable of doing at the present time. As he got to his nerd herder, he pulled out his keys and fiddled with them to find his car key. He was interrupted by a cheerful voice.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Chuck! I talked to Ellie and she told me about the dinner tonight. Good thing I caught up with you before you left." said Sarah as she ran towards Chuck.

She was doing her best to be happy despite what happened earlier. It was hard for her though, as she was struggling with the fact that she had just killed Mauser for Chuck. However, something had been off ever since she talked to him in the Buy More right after she killed Mauser. Chuck had gone from caring and sensitive to completely evasive within the span of a few hours. She knew something was up but could not figure out what it was. Chuck's eyes gave him away though. Sarah could tell what Chuck was feeling based on the look he gave her. Most of the time, she loved to look into his eyes as they conveyed kindness and innocence, giving her a warm feeling inside, that was part of his charm. Tonight however, they conveyed pain and confusion, especially when looking at her. It was if Chuck were analyzing her with his eyes, judging her for whatever she had done. It was those sweet eyes that Sarah turned to when she was feeling upset. Right now, she really needed them and they weren't there: Sarah's rock was missing and she needed to get it back.

"Oh really, why's that?" said Chuck flatly as he looked at Sarah with a blank stare.

"Well Chuck, unless you want me to call a cab, you're driving me to your house. You picked me up this morning, I don't have my car."

"I guess I forgot… Um, get in." said Chuck as he unlocked the herder's doors.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

_Fuck_. Chuck could not believe he was being forced by circumstances to be isolated with Sarah during his drive home. Chuck couldn't help but let out a chuckle as he thought about the irony of the situation. Normally, Chuck would jump at the chance to spend time alone with Sarah, yet tonight when it actually happened he was upset. No matter, no one said they had to talk during the ride home. Thankfully, Chuck didn't live far from the Buy More, and it wouldn't take long to get home. He got into the Herder and proceeded to drive out of the Buy More lot. Chuck was thankful that Sarah let them ride in silence, but he could tell she would look at him funny every now and then, thinking god knows what. She was getting curious, and she was bound to ask questions soon. It didn't matter though as he was on the freeway and he'd be home soon and he would be able to avoid any private talks with Sarah. Just when things were looking up for Chuck, the other cars started to slow and soon enough, Chuck and Sarah were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. _This is so not fair _was all Chuck could think.

While sitting in the traffic, slowly puttering along in the herder, Chuck had been making every effort to avoid eye contact with Sarah. The last thing he wanted was to spark a conversation he really didn't want to have. It was probably obvious that he was ignoring her on purpose, because a few seconds later Sarah finally broke the silence in the car.

"Chuck are you ok? You've been acting strangely all afternoon." Asked Sarah with a worried tone.

"I'm fine Sarah, why-uh-do you ask?"

"You haven't said a word to me in hours and now your staring off into the distance. You're not fooling anyone."

At this, Chuck gulped his trademark, nervous gulp. _Damn it!_ Why did he gulp, he might as well have just told Sarah that something was bothering him. "Really, I'm fine. I'm just thinking…"

"About what?" interjected Sarah immediately.

"Well there's a lot to think about isn't there? My friends and family were held hostage, Ned almost killed Ellie, Mauser almost captured me and I saw-" rattled off as he stopped mid-sentence. He'd done it. He'd given Sarah all the ammunition she needed to become concerned. Why did he bother talking at all?

"Saw what Chuck?" asked Sarah nervously. What could he have seen?

"You know what, I don't really want to-" said Chuck as he desperately tried to avoid confronting her in the car, in the middle of LA traffic, but he was cut off by a frantic Sarah. He figured she was probably catching on.

"What did you see Chuck?"

Chuck could see that he would be forced into coming clean with Sarah. As he thought of how to approach the topic, Chuck realized that there was no where better to have this conversation with Sarah, as neither of them could go anywhere, and they were safely away from Casey's bugs.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Sarah do you remember when you told me that I didn't need to believe you but that I did need to trust you? Well I think I've done pretty well with the trusting up to this point. Tonight's events have brought up some questions though."

_Trust? Why is he talking about trust now? He saw something and he wants to talk to me about trust…_

"Don't get me wrong Sarah, I do trust you. If I didn't have you, I don't know what I would do. It's not like Casey is going to listen to what I have to say. However, I'm going to ask you something, and this time I want you to answer my question honestly: What happened to Mauser?"

As soon as Chuck said Mauser's name, it was like a brick hit Sarah. _He saw_, _he knows_. Sarah was silent for a second, but then said "Chuck…I…I had to do it."

"But why? He was unarmed and had surrendered."

As much as Sarah was overcome with emotion, she was also confused. "What do you mean why? If you saw me shoot him, then you heard what he said."

It was Chuck's turn to be silent and confused. He had a perplexed look on his face. "Sarah, all I saw was you shooting a defenseless man in cold blood. I want to believe that you had a good reason, but I saw what I saw and I didn't hear a thing."

Tears began to form in Sarah's eyes as she realized that Chuck knew nothing of what actually happened. _God, he must think I'm a monster. _Sarah now had to explain to Chuck why she killed Mauser, forcing her to face what she had done. Up until this point, she had been telling herself that she had done it because it was her job. Mauser was a threat to the intersect, and thus had to be eliminated. However as she turned to look into Chuck's eyes, seeing the confusion and innocence in his eyes all of her emotional barriers crumbled. She realized that she killed Mauser not because he was threat to the intersect, but because he was a threat to Chuck, the man she loved.

"I did it for you Chuck! Mauser was important to Fulcrum. They'd have rescued him. He knew you were the intersect, he would have come after you! I promised you I would never let anyone hurt you and I intend to keep that promise. I've let you get hurt too many times and it crushes me every time. When we learned Jill was Fulcrum and couldn't find you, I was so afraid that you had been taken. Tonight I almost lost you again. I had to do what I did. Then when I came back to the Buy More, I was afraid that if I told you about Mauser you'd think less of me or reject me, and then I'd have lost you, and I don't think I could go on if you hated me . You're the only person I have, I love…"

She didnt finish her sentenceSarah was panicking at this point. She was amazed how much she had already told him, and normally would have tried to get away from Chuck a while back. To make it worse, she had just made herself even more vulnerable by telling him that she loved him. She could not handle him rejecting her, her body screamed for her to get away. However tonight she was stuck in traffic, trapped in front of Chuck, leaving him the opportunity to analyze her and her words right then and there. It was not something she was used too, and the plethora of possible reactions Chuck could have scared her. Sarah became more and more anxious as she waited to hear his response. Dreading the worst, she looked down at the charm bracelet. _I don't deserve this, he probably regrets giving it to me now. _She started to fiddle with it.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Chuck was about to say something to Sarah when his phone rang. It was Ellie.

_I never get a break do I?_ "Yes Ellie?"

"Where are you? We're waiting on you. And have you heard from Sarah? She isn't here either." Asked Ellie in her Bartowski mother voice.

"Don't worry Elle, I've got Sarah with me, we got stuck in traffic but it's clearing up now. We should be there in a few minutes." Said Chuck as cars started honking behind him to get him to speed up.

Ellie kept him busy on the phone for the remainder of the very short drive home. He had hoped to talk to Sarah more while they were stuck in the car, but Ellie was persistent and soon enough, the herder was parked in front of casa Bartowski. He managed to get off the phone with Ellie, not telling her they were right outside so he'd have a chance to talk to Sarah more. Before he got a chance to say something though, Sarah was out of the car. He noticed something on her seat: the charm bracelet. Damn it, I didn't see her take it off. _God, I'm such an idiot sometimes, of course she had a good reason for what she did, she always does, it's Sarah_. this. He grabbed the bracelet and ran after her. As he made his way towards her, what she said had finally sunk in. _She loves me? _He hadn't realized the implications of what she had said until now. Chuck was determined now. It was time to fix this.

Sarah was just making it into the courtyard when Chuck had caught up and got in front of her, stopping her from moving any further. Sarah's eyes were red from crying and he could see tear marks on her cheeks. It hurt him immensely to see her like this. Chuck wanted to make Sarah happy, not sad. As a tear began to make it's way down her cheek, he gently wiped it away, caressing her cheek. Sarah was not expecting kindness at this point, which he could tell by the quizzical look in her eyes.

"Sarah, you need to know that I could never hate you Thank you for protecting me day in and day out. It's because of you that I'm still here, breathing fresh air." Chuck grabbed her arm and started putting the charm bracelet back on. "I gave you this bracelet because I wanted you to have it and-" tried to explain Chuck, but he was cut off by Sarah.

"I told you chuck, you should give that to a real girlfriend, I'm not normal and I'm not-"

It was Chuck's turn to interject. "Normal flew out the window when the intersect appeared in my head. Nothing has been or will ever be normal now. I'm leading a new life, and you're a part of it. Besides, I don't want normal… I want you. You're the greatest thing that has ever happened to me." Said Chuck as he looked lovingly into her eyes and caressed her hands.

"What are you saying Chuck?"

"What I've always wanted to say- I love you Sarah Walker and I don't want to spend a day without you."

At that, he pulled her in for a very passionate kiss, one that they had both been wanting for a while now. Her hands were in his hair, and his in hers, both pulling each other in as close as they could be. Sarah couldn't believe it. He loved her. A smile formed on her face as she kissed him. The feeling was mutual for Chuck. Sarah had finally admitted to him how she felt and Chuck couldn't be happier. They must have been kissing for longer than they thought, because they were interrupted by Ellie and Awesome who were standing in the doorway of the house.

"Make out session in the courtyard, awesome!"

"Sorry to interrupt, we got impatient waiting for you two and were going to check if your car was out there. We'll leave you two be." said a radiant Ellie.

As Ellie and Awesome went back inside, Chuck turned to Sarah who had a huge smile and couldn't keep her eyes off Chuck. Chuck reciprocated with his trademark Bartowski smile. He took her hand and they started to walk towards the house. Before they stepped inside, Sarah had to say something. "Chuck, I meant what I told you earlier in the car. I really do love you. I'm sorry if I freaked you out earlier, I couldn't let him hurt you…"

"I love you too… and don't worry about what happened. It's hard for me to adapt to this new life. Sometimes I forget what has to be done when you're a spy. Thank you for telling me."

"I should have told you in the first place… I guess I'm not used to having someone to talk to about what I'm thinking. Bryce wasn't exactly the best listener. This whole fiasco could have been avoided if I had just been open with you in the first place."

"Well I'm glad we had this incident actually. It wasn't a total waste of time" joked Chuck as he pulled Sarah closer and kissed her cheek.

As the two came inside, they were warmly welcomed by their friends. Ellie had managed to get Casey to come, who let out a grunt when he saw Chuck and Sarah holding hands, as well as Jeff and Lester, who had a neck brace on. Chuck figured that he had negotiated his early release from the hospital for Christmas Eve. More surprisingly, Morgan and Anna were snuggled up together on the couch. It turned out that Morgan had confronted Anna, who told him what actually happened with Lester. It was Christmas Eve and all was right in the world.

Later in the night, Chuck was sitting with Morgan while Anna, Sarah and Ellie were talking about Ellie's wedding. "So you patched things up with Anna?"

"Yeah, turns out Lester put the moves on Anna and took her by surprise. I feel like a fool for ever doubting my Anna-Banana. It's amazing how things get blown out of proportion when you only know one side of a story."

Chuck looked over at Sarah and smiled. "You said it buddy."

The End


End file.
